Like Cairns, Perth holds a special place in my travel memories. At the onset of the pandemic my job on a cruise ship was shut down, meanwhile we sailed towards Western Australia to depart from the port town of Fremantle, 30 minutes south of Perth. There everyone would make their separate flights home. The part that made the journey out from Perth particularly memorable was my volunteering to escort a 96 year old cruise passenger back home to America.
Anyway, I knew from the start of my working holiday that I had to get back to Perth. It’s known as the most isolated capital city in the world, sitting nearly 1300 miles west of the nearest city of Adelaide. But with a population of 2 million and an American-like sprawl one wouldn’t inherently feel isolated. Perth has a solid public transportation system, but I found it to be slower than the transit in Sydney. My one big initial complaint was that Perth is NOT very walkable outside of the CBD.
Most backpackers in Australia stick to the well trodden paths of the east coast. This might explain why there weren’t many hostel options in Perth. My first hostel seemed to house more displaced locals than foreign travelers, and after a few days I moved to another called the Britannia On William. There I met backpackers who were in Perth primarily searching for work in the mines or in construction. I felt like the only person there to explore the city. The social atmosphere at Britannia left something to be desired, but that was fine because I was in the process of binging all four seasons of Stranger Things.
Now I have a confession – for some time I’ve grown tired of the Australian backpacker experience. Hostels here are of a lower quality than many in developing countries and are also more expensive. I’ll be forever grateful for the time I spent in Sydney, but I want to get back to destinations that stir the senses and contrast my own culture back in America – like my recent trips to Turkey and Georgia had.
So nearly a week after arriving in Perth I booked a flight home to re-pack and organize for my first ever trip to Southeast Asia. The booking date gave me another week in Australia to get out of Perth and to have a proper holiday before my flight.
The first stop on my “departure tour” was a full day in Fremantle. Amidst all the pandemonium of my first stay two years ago I had no clue how special this town is. Fremantle was recently recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 50 best travel destinations in the world, highlighting its unique food and drink offerings. Also notable is the Victorian and Edwardian-era architecture, and the Fremantle prison – where most of Australia’s convicts were held until 1991.
Aside from taking photos in the streets I made a stop to a coffee shop, bought a travel memoir at a used bookstore, and reminisced on my previous stay at the Esplanade Hotel at the onset of the pandemic. The Fremantle Markets were also a fun place to wander – with unique shops and food stalls. There I tried Vietnamese food for the first time, and it tasted … healthy? Vietnam is definitely top of my list for South East Asia.
Western Australia has some of the most extraordinary sunsets – with a specific palette of color that I have never seen elsewhere. Later that day I hopped on a bus down to Coogee Beach, where I enjoyed one of the moodiest sunsets of my life. The sky gradually transformed from a clear gold to a splotchy blanket of dark clouds – the remaining sunlight cast menacing streaks of red and orange throughout.
My next stop was Rottnest Island, one of the most popular holiday destinations in WA. You can take a ferry from Perth or Fremantle to the island, with the ride lasting either an hour or 30 minutes, respectively. Rottnest is really cool in that there are no personal vehicles allowed on the island. The primary mode of transport is by bicycle, which you can rent directly through the ferry or at a shop on the island. Visitors can book accommodation on the island or just go for a day trip.
It took me four hours to cycle around the island, which has clearly paved roads and seemingly endless coastal views. Watching the violent waves crash into the surrounding reef was a dramatic sight, particularly at Cape Vlamingh on the far west side of the island. Being wintertime in Australia it wasn’t warm enough to lay out on any of the beaches, but there were so many places to stop and enjoy the scenery.
Furthermore, Rottnest is home to one of mother nature’s most bizarre yet adorable creations – the Quokka. Visitors are guaranteed to see them, as they are literally everywhere in the main tourist center. You are encouraged to take selfies with the quokka, and this was easy to do. Quokka’s are constantly surveying the ground for food and are very friendly. There’s a reason they are often referred to as the happiest animals on earth, just look at that face!
Getting a perfect quokka selfie is as simple as sticking your iphone on the ground and snapping away. I took so many selfies that I struggled to choose which one to post. Interacting with these marsupials was one of the most amusing things I’ve done in a long time, I found myself on the side of the road taking one obnoxious picture after another and laughing hysterically the whole time.
Following my day at Rottnest Zoo I rented a car and drove three hours south to the region of Margaret River. I can’t say what drew me to this area, other than that it appeared to have more going on than anywhere nearby to the north. (I also thought that Margaret River sounds quite posh!)
Being a town, a river, and a region – Margaret River extends from Dunsborough in the north to Augusta in the south. I picked up my rental car near the Perth airport at 11:00 AM and drove straight to the town of Margaret River to check into my Airbnb, reminding myself (somewhat awkwardly) along the way how to drive on the left side of the road. Even with little planning I found Margaret River to be a really easy place to spontaneously build an itinerary for a couple of days.
As my first time in Oz with a rental car I was keen to drive as much as possible, and nothing in the region was more than 45 minutes away. The scenic Caves Road was the perfect area to spend the bulk of day two – I look the road south to Augusta and back up on the way to my second Airbnb in Dunsborough. I was curious to see how I would feel renting a car by myself for the first time, but Margaret River wound up being perfect for a little solitude following almost five months of time in hostels. The huge trees of the Boranup forest were a particular highlight of this drive. The area is also full of notable caves offering tours, but I preferred to spend my time taking in the area by car.
It wouldn’t be a trip to Margaret River without a stop to one of the hundreds of local wineries. My Airbnb host recommended I stop by the Cullen Estate winery. I had never done a tasting alone, something about it made me feel extra bougie – like a lonely, rich wine connoisseur. I did buy a $30 bottle of Rosé (pictured below on the left) but I wound up pairing it with an $11 subway sandwich back at my airbnb that night while watching Paris Hilton’s cooking show on Netflix … so much for being bougie lol.
For sunset on my second night I drove up to Cape Naturaliste, a rugged expanse of low forest and shrubbery pushed up against the ocean. A popular sunset spot, Sugarloaf rock caught my eye while hiking nearby. I quickly drove over before the best light was gone. I had enough time to climb the nearby rock formations for more interesting views than the tourist platform.
Renting a car in WA was much cheaper than it would have been in Cairns, which is a perk of traveling to a remote location in the off-season. On the third day I slowly made my way back along the coast towards Perth. My primary stop was the seaside town of Busselton, known for having the longest jetty (similar to a pier) in the southern hemisphere. I didn’t expect to be impressed, but the walk to the end took at least 15 minutes! Meanwhile I toted around my viola case and laptop/ipad so not to leave them in the car and risk them being stolen.
So now after seven posts detailing my working holiday it seems like things are perhaps coming to an end as I explore other travel options in Asia. My visa is still valid until March of 2023, and I may return for the summertime to stay in Melbourne and Tasmania. Otherwise I have been applying for airline flight attendant positions, so I want to make sure I get in my other dream backpacking destinations while I still can!
Up Next: “5 Adventures in Sydney Via Public Transit“
thelaststandby 